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Massospondylus carinatus 'judas'
Isla Sorna Length: 15 feet Height: 6 feet Weight: '''300 pounds ---- '''Coloration: : Male: A dark reddish-brown, with black spots speckled throughout. The underbelly is a dull grey. : Female and Juvenile (both sexes): A lighter shade of red, tinged with grey, almost a lighter whitish shade on the underside. Diet: ''Massospondylus'' is an omnivorous dinosaur, generally eating low-lying to medium-growth plant matter. It sometimes supplements its diet with carrion or small insects or lizards. When situations are right, Massospondylus will kill live prey and eat meat. Preferred Habitat: Rocky outcrops and plains of Isla Sorna. Social Structure: ''Massospondylus'' tends to live in small social groups of 3-4 individuals. Groups are highly migratory, tending to move on to the next food source in the event of a shortage. Herds also often join up with small herbivore herds, where they secretly hunt the smaller, more vulnerable animals. ---- Massospondylus a small bipedal dinosaur, the only prosauropod cloned by InGen. Its long neck gives it an advantage over similarly-sized herbivores in that it can access somewhat higher vegetation such as low-lying tree branches. Its most prominent feature is the large, sharp claw on the thumb of each hand. This claw has multiple uses, mainly for foraging: for example when digging for underground tubers or scraping bark from tree trunks. However, the claw also serves as a stabbing or slashing weapon. Due to its relatively small size, Massospondylus tends to be somewhat skittish at times. It often seeks the safety of its distant sauropod relatives for protecton, although it will often be seen around other animals such as Stegosaurus or Styracosaurus when in the open as the presence of these animals deter smaller predators. The main predators of Massospondylus are Austroraptor and Allosaurus, mainly due to them inhabiting the same regions of Sorna. Massospondylus does have some defense against predators however, in the form of its thumb claws. When a group of Massospondylus is threatened, they will band together, brandishing their thumb claws and trying to intimidate the predator in numbers. However, this behavior is only exhibited against smaller predators up to the size of Dilophosaurus. Individual Massospondylus tend to defend themselves if they see no other recourse, as it prefers to flee if possible to do so. Although mainly herbivorous, every so often, Massospondylus gets carnivorous tendencies. Considering the fact Massospondylus ''is not the most intelligent of dinosaurs on Sorna, its hunting methods are very meticulous. It will hunt among the herds of herbivores with which it travels, picking off those that are the smallest or the weakest, however it needs to be very careful in order to avoid suspicion and the possible event of being turned on by the larger animals of the herd. Therefore, hunts do not occur often. ''Massospondylus' eyesight in the darkness is somewhat better than many other species of herbivorous dinosaur, and so it use this to its advantage, choosing to hunt by night. Usually, Massospondylus will select a sleeping target; stabbing its claws into its victim's heart or slashing open the throat in order to kill the victim quickly, thus preventing it from calling out for help. The Massospondylus will then spray a heavy amount of pheromones over the kill site and over the carcass, mimicking the scent a large theropod and thereby shifting the blame away from itself. Most of the time, the other animals in the herd are none the wiser. Massospondylus may experience rapid growth when the species occurs in areas of plentiful or abundant vegetation. This has a side effect of increased aggression, It may become increasingly territorial even when not provoked. When rival groups migrate, the opposing individuals may be wary of each other, although all-out gang wars can ensue if the two differing groups do not respect each others' territory and resources.